A man hated his wife’s cat and decided to throw it away. One day, he drove it over one mile from his home and left it in a park.

But when he got home, he saw that his wife was playing with the cat.

   The next day he drove the cat about three miles away. He put the cat out of the car and went home. Driving back his driveway（私人车道）, the cat was there already.

   The man keep taking the cat further and further away and the cat would always get home before him. At last he decided to drive more than ten miles away. He turned right, then left, past a bridge, then right again and another right until he thought he was far enough from home and left the cat there.

   Hours later the man was still driving home. He was lost! He called home and asked his wife,“Jen, is the cat there?”

  “Yes,” his wife answered,“why do you ask?”

   The man answered,“Put it on the phone. I’m lost and need directions.”

One day while shopping in a small town in southern California, it was my misfortune to be approached by a clerk. He seemed most unfriendly and not at all concerned about my intended purchase. I bought nothing, and marched angrily out of the store.

On the outside was a dark-skinned young man in his early twenties. His expressive brown eyes met and held mine, and in the next instant a beautiful, bright smile covered his face. I gave in immediately. The power of that broad smile dissolved all bitterness within me, and I felt the muscles in my own face happily responding.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” I remarked, in passing. Then I turned back.  “I really owe you a debt of thanks,” I said softly.

His smile deepened, but he made no attempt to answer. A Mexican woman and two men were standing nearby. The woman stepped forward and volunteered, “Sir, but he doesn’t speak English. Do you want me to tell him something?” In that moment I felt transformed. The young man’s smile had made a big person of me. My friendliness and good will toward all mankind stand ten feet tall.

“Yes,” my reply was enthusiastic and sincere, “tell him I said, ‘Thank you!’”

“Thank you?” The woman seemed slightly puzzled.

I gave her arm a friendly pat as I turned to leave. “Just tell him that,” I insisted.  “He’ll understand. I am sure!”

Oh, what a smile can do! Although I have never seen that young man again, I shall never forget the lesson he taught me that morning. From that day on, I became smile-conscious, and I practice the art diligently anywhere and everywhere, with everybody.

B

The Wake-up Call

    “What’s that?” my ten-year-old daughter, Genie, asked. She’d caught me laughing at a piece of mail I’d just opened. “Wake-up service; $2.50 per call.” At the bottom was a phone number and a drawing of a rotary phone, like the one my great-aunt Sara had owned 40 years ago.

   “Is that mail funny?” Genie asked.

   “Not really,” I admitted. “It’s just outdated.”

    “What’s a wake-up call？” She frowned. I explained how, before smart-phones, people sometimes paid someone to wake them with a call.

    “Who sent this flyer?” she pressed.

   “Probably someone older,” I said, “and could use some money.”

Her eyes lit up. “Can we order a wake-up?” she asked.

    “We don’t need it.” I picked it up and headed for the recycling bin.

   “Wait!” she screamed.

     “I feel sorry for the wake-up man, if he needs some money,” she said, tearing up. “Can’t we order?”

       I looked at the flyer with its drawing of a rotary phone. I remembered, again, my great-aunt Sara and her rotary phone. As a kid, I’d visited her over Labor Day, when Jerry Lewis would host his charity event for the disabled kids. Aunt Sara would squeeze my hand, then reach for the rotary phone, dialing the number on the screen. Holding the receiver between us, we’d announce to the operator, “We’d like to help those kids.”

       Now here was my own child, showing the same big heart I’d once been encouraged to have, and how could I ignore her? I Googled the flyer’s return address. The address belonged to a man called Raymond. He was in his mid-60s. We called him and, holding the receiver between us, the way Aunt Sara and I used to, told him we needed his services. “Great!” Raymond said in a shaky but friendly voice, clearly amazed at receiving an order from a child. When I asked how to pay the $2.50, he answered, “Mail a check.”

      Genie was happy all week. Friday night, I put the phone by her pillow so she could answer Raymond’s call. She bounded to my bedroom to tell me all about how he’d wished her a good morning and told her to have a great day, which she did.

        Technology has made some things outdated. But there are still other things the world will always require. In the rush of my daily life, I’d temporarily forgotten that. I guess I just needed a wake-up call.

In a wheat field in France, a cat meets a black-bellied hamster (仓鼠). Too far from her burrow (洞穴) to run for shelter, the wild hamster rises on her back legs to face her enemy. The cat backs away. “Theyˈre afraid of nothing,” says Alexandre Lehmann, a biologist who has worked with these wild hamsters for the past 12 years.“They fight against cats and dogs and even farmers. They try to fight against tractors.”Itˈs a good thing that the black-bellied hamster wonˈt go down without a fight. Because in France, where only 500 to 1,000 remain in the wild, they are in a fight for their lives.

    At the Stork and Otter Reintroduction Centre in Alsace, Lehmann and his colleagues breed captive hamsters and set the young hamsters free into the wild. But raising black-bellied hamsters isnˈt exactly easy. Remember, they have attitude. Forget humans — they donˈt even like each other.“You have to make sure the male and female donˈt kill each other,”Lehmann says.

    Black-bellied hamsters might think of themselves as tough guys. But to a fox or an eagle, theyˈre just a four-legged snack. To survive, hamsters need to be set into a field with lots of leafy hiding places. Thatˈs a problem in Alsace, where most farmers plant corn. The corn hasnˈt sprouted (发芽) in early spring, when hamsters come out of their burrows from winter hibernation (冬眠). In the bare fields the hamsters are easy targets for their enemies.

    Some older farmers donˈt want hamsters in their fields because of their reputation as crop-chewing pests. But most are willing to help, especially since the French government will pay farmers to grow early-sprouting crops such as alfalfa and winter wheat and allow hamsters to be set free on their lands. Itˈs a way to protect not just the hamsters, but also other small animals in leafy fields.

Throughout time, people have enjoyed being entertained, andcircuses have been one of the most popularforms of entertainmentever. The first records of circuses are from ancient Rome.Horse-drawn vehicle races, animal shows, andacrobats(杂技演员) made up these first performances. People of that time enjoyed

themselves mainly through these shows. The events were held indoorsand were open to all social classes. After the fall of Rome,however, these things were lost to Europe.

Circuses made a comeback in England in the 18th centurythanks to Philip Astley, who was the first to introduce trickhorse-riding to the show and created the famous circus ring inwhich the performances were held. He then addedclowns(小丑),trained animals, and tightrope walkers. This was the official startof the modern circus.

The next big step for circuses was taken by P.T. Barnum inthe US. He brought thesideshow(穿插表演)to the circus world,where strange animals and humans could be seen. He also was thefirst to use trains to transport his circus from town to town.

Today, circuses have once again been changed and havecaught the attention of viewers worldwide. Contemporary circusesbegan as part of a performing arts movement in the 1970s. Insteadof many short, separate performances, the new shows have longstorylines that connect all the acts together.

Another big difference between traditional and contemporarycircuses is the use of animals. It is rare to see them incontemporary circuses. The most famous and successfulcontemporary circus is Cirque du Soleil, which was founded inCanada in 1984. Bringing in over US$800 million a year, Cirquedu Soleil has become famous for being breathtaking and magical.

Every type and size of circus can be found today. No mattertheir titles, the goal of circuses is to bring entertainment to people.